Welcome back to the Major League Baseball regular season. Following the All Star break, a full slate of games today kicks off the stretch run to October baseball.
With only 3 games to choose from and 2 of them losses, the Highlight of the Week is pretty obvious. Travis d’Arnaud has had some big moments for the Angels lately and won last Friday’s game on a walk off single to left field.
My search for that highlight led to this little gem.
Following the Diamondbacks series, the Angels got 4 days of rest and relaxation. Not a single one appeared in the All Star game. Hopefully they ate their Wheaties, though, because the schedule gets really brutal for a while. Three games in Philly followed by three games at the Mets followed by a Seattle and Texas homestand.
The MLB trade deadline looms after those four tough series. MLBTR took a look at how the Angels might approach the deadline.
One interesting tidbit of news is that Mike Trout will be eased back into playing the outfield.
And if you missed it, ESPN released a documentary on Jim Abbott this week. ESPN+ will have it available to stream or just look out for it. Jim is a personal hero and I’ve been blessed to meet him a couple of times. He’s as great as you’d expect him to be, which is really saying something.
In the meantime, make sure to read that very good piece.
Perhaps Jim should chat with Silent C, who was optioned to AAA last week. Then Angels have made it to this point using only 5 starting pitchers. It looks like that will change in a few days.
Our draft coverage and threads were the best I’ve seen on this site. A huge thanks to Turk’s Teeth for his phenomenal work in the weeks leading up to the draft and to Nolan for following the top college prospects all year.
Tyler Bremner was a surprise pick at number 2. He was a guy we followed closely but expected to fall down the board after a rough stretch early in conference play. However, the pick of Bremner makes sense for the Angels per Bill Shaikin of the LAT.
I honestly don’t know how to caption this next one. Losing his mom has to be the most gut wrenching experience of Bremner’s life. That was shortly followed by a joyful experience he wasn’t allowed to share with her.
What are the Angels getting in Bremner? A mid 90s fastball that sometimes gets too straight and a ridiculous change up that is one of the best single pitches in the draft class.
But wait, there’s more. In addition to Bremner, the Angels selected another 20 MLB hopefuls, some of whom are already signed.
The draft was heavy on pitching, particularly high school pitching. It leaned younger in the middle rounds than is usual for Perry. The bat I’m most excited about landing is Slate Alford. The kid mashed all year and seemed to come up big in big moments.
Yes, the Angels picked up two third basemen in the first 9 rounds. Seems like outside of the Glaus years the hot corner has always been a problem here.
I should be more excited about 4th rounder Jake Munroe. He’s another big boy at 6 ft 2 about 230 pounds who slashed an notable .346/.451/.593 with 13 homers and 13 doubles. He has the nice, compact swing that leads to a lot of contact and a lot of line drives.
The fact of the matter is I simply watched Georgia more often this year and I’m more familiar with Slate. I’d like to drop the completely unoriginal nickname of Slater on him right now if that’s acceptable to the board.
Lots of insanity can happen after round 10 and the Angels made some noise there. 12th round pick Talon Haley has an incredible personal story and makes for one of the most intriguing picks of the draft.
Perry must’ve drank a Monster because after drafting 21 players in 20 rounds he then went out and signed another slew of players.
From around baseball…
The All Star game was pretty mundane until it wasn’t. A late round rally by the AL turned a 6-0 deficit into a tie game. That led to the first swing off in All Star history.
The game was a hit, drawing 7.2 million viewers.
Unfortunately, Ketel Marte’s home was burglarized while he enjoyed his shining moment of playing in the game.
I thought the tribute to Hank Aaron was amazing and befitting of the great man Aaron was. His smile and compassion are truly missed.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. There are fights from dawn to dusk tomorrow so I’m a happy guy. I’ll also host an open house on Sunday, but let’s focus on the fun. I hope you have a great weekend and that Mike Trout puts on a show in front of his family and friends.
